Dear Mr. Shore,
For eight years of my life, I have succumbed to the hypnotic nature of your show, House. When I first began my journey, I was drawn to the mysterious nature of your title character, Dr. Gregory House. His personal mystique and determination to solve the Sherlockian medical mystery, captivated me to a point where I carefully wished to analyze his every move.
As the persona of this character unfolded, it wasn’t just his sarcasm, misanthropy and blunt honesty in his quest for truth and answers that pulled me into his orbit, but the very essence of his humanity, personal pain and loneliness. These are qualities to which many can relate and ones that garnered sympathy. In that regard, viewers of the show were compelled to root for House to succeed in his personal pursuits as well as in his professional ones.
One of the values the character House exemplified through the years was that of advocate for the powerless. House was never a hypocrite and made known his discontent for bullying individuals of power, as evidenced in his Vogler arc back in season one and the numerous patient of the week stories that showed him fighting to bring the “victim” into equilibrium and the path to justice.
In addition to his urge to “fight the power,” he also found stolen moments with his patients in which they revealed something about him and in which he made them reflect upon themselves. Yet, it wasn’t just in a room with the patient where House’s reflective nature had viewers transfixed, but in the moments spent in his office alone contemplating a case, or at home reflecting on what had transpired. Of course, these moments of reflection and turmoil couldn’t have been possible without the incredible acting talents of Mr. Hugh Laurie. Mr. Laurie brought and continues to bring a humanistic quality to the character, the result of which makes House not a complete and intolerable bastard in the eyes of many, but a friend.
Another quality, which I respected throughout the years, was House’s struggles with personal and emotional pain and the realities of addiction. For awhile, these aspects had a real feel to them which moved fans to anger, tears and empathy in regards to his pain. However, these aspects were sometimes amplified too much and at other times diluted and clouded to the point of confusing the real issue that in my opinion the pain was not handled with true care. If it had been, I feel there would have been many great dramatic moments in which Mr. Laurie would have given undeniable award-winning performances.
Relationships were always a wonderful core of the show as well. The friendship of House and Wilson is reminiscent of the days of Oscar and Felix from the Odd Couple. Additionally, the dance between House and Cuddy served as both amusing and emotionally riveting. When all three characters were together on the show, there was a balance of sorts, as each brought something different to the relationship. Sadly, this is sorely missing for me this season. Looking back at old episodes and those from last year, I miss this trilogy of actors. Wilson as House’s conscience and Cuddy as his heart completed House the man, and therefore brought dimension and revelatory balance to the character.
Even House’s personal history of abuse seemed to serve as a sort of outline to his character, adding not only an additional layer of pain, but also another layer of humanity to explain some of his more noble responses. It was a seed planted early in the series that viewers felt would eventually lead to more layers being peeled. Unfortunately, after eight years, House’s backstory is still rooted in almost total mystery, complete with the question of “where and when did he finally get his graduate degree?” Plus, viewers of the show still wonder if House will ever tell anyone of the personal trauma he experienced during childhood or if he will continue to bottle those secrets deep within the very essence of his soul.
For me, House was at its best when it dealt with simplicity and deep character issues as opposed to crashes and overuse of special effects. To me what was important was the story and what could be revealed about House and maybe a few others in his orbit through those stories, which leads to the real reason I’m constructing this letter.
Let me take you back to season four for a moment in a beautiful scene played out by Hugh Laurie and Anne Dudek and constructed so well by Lerner and Friend. House finds himself on a white bus with Amber, who has passed away, content to stay there because for him “it doesn’t hurt” there. Knowing that he was indirectly responsible for the death of his best friend’s girl, House confesses to Amber that he doesn’t want to be in pain or miserable and doesn’t want Wilson to hate him. Amber responds by telling him that he can’t always get what he wants. With that in mind, House leaves the white bus in what I thought was a turning point for the character. Fans were privy to his desires in life and hoped that he could achieve those desires mainly because, no matter what kind of person you are, you deserve to succeed. I call it having hope for those who seem hopeless. “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” have been considered by many to be the “favorites” of the series, and “House’s Head” won many awards for its brilliance. But it seems the creative team might have confused what really brought power to these episodes. The special effects were only a support to a powerful script and performance, not the primary element to success and popularity. The glimpse inside the tortured soul and the mind of the beloved character, as well as the insightful interactions with the ensemble cast, filled the audience with excitement for the character development that would certainly follow.
House dealt with a lot in season five….his desire to repair his friendship with Wilson, Cuddy becoming a mom and House’s ever growing desire to be the man in Cuddy’s life, his father passing away, Kutner committing suicide and a downward spiral caused by a cocktail mix of Vicodin abuse and emotional distress. Although there were several missteps and moments that didn’t seem to fit the overall narrative, the season as a whole produced the desired affect of breaking House, tearing down the walls that were preventing him from any positive forward momentum. All of this led to Mayfield and what many fans had hoped was the beginning of his personal journey to self-improvement and personal happiness. House decided to battle his addiction and to release some of his emotional baggage through the guidance of Dr. Nolan. Even though it seemed quite superficial to only touch detoxification and his need to trust himself to connect with another, it was a starting point. Several times during season six, House struggled but kept forging ahead; he was hit emotionally, but never beyond the baby steps taken in Mayfield. The season trudged on at such a glacial pace it started to feel stagnant. The promise of real growth and development lost. Then, just when all hope seemed to be gone and House appeared back on the road to old habits, there was a glimmer of hope that at least one aspect of his goal could be achieved….a relationship with Cuddy. Then…it all went to hell in a poorly organized handbag.
Season seven, Mr. Shore, started well. Patients tied into House as a person and House’s relationship with Cuddy had viewers and critics excited over the obstacles and the heat they thought would come. Sadly, the exploration of this journey fell very flat very quickly in just a few episodes into the season. Moments where personal drama could have made for beautiful television ended up being replaced by unbelievable antics-a Monster truck, hookers and a Green Card wife. Dominika hasn’t been well received by an abundance of viewers of the show, but seems only to be accepted by the staff of House, who think she’s “cute” and fun. Also the writers, under your tutelage, seemed to have forgotten who all the characters were in regards to their personalities. Rather than sexy banter and fun with a thorough exploration of House and Cuddy’s relationship, we got the mundane and the out of character, which went against the essence of their characters. Here’s what I mean….since when was Cuddy ever a harping shrew who wanted House to change? Through the years the show has shown how Cuddy appreciated House’s “uncommon” nature and was captivated by his brilliance. This character idea, if properly handled, could’ve led to several instances of cerebral dialogue and moments of a valid partnership. Also, Cuddy knows House lies when it comes to the medicine…past history has displayed this several times. Since when does she become overly irritated and insulted for several episodes by his lying behavior? In fact, the point was clearly made in season four’s “The Right Stuff,” after House had lied about his patient and was confronted with it, that Cuddy understood his lies were for the benefit of the patient and her protection, never as a statement of trust and care. Being in a relationship with him is not an excuse either. It was just a poorly constructed way to issue what you may have felt was a believable argument and an attempt to weaken the foundation of their relationship, but it was without warrant and made little sense given their history as seen onscreen. The “lie” was taken too far, in my opinion. You also missed some fabulous opportunities to: bring House’s mom and Cuddy’s mom together….drama and comedy all in one with some possible addition of backstory for both characters as well as a deeper connection between the pair as opposed to a superficial connection, to explore the House family dynamics in the framework of the fear and trepidation tied to a relationship with Rachel, to explore the reasons behind the damaged personality traits of both characters. These missed opportunities became more than disappointment, but a frustration for viewers.
I also wasn’t a fan of using Rachel as an excuse to end things between House and Cuddy (though that was only made clear in interviews since it wasn’t made clear within the episode itself where she was only mentioned as a means to reveal the “candy” connection). The break-up in general could have been handled with more care. If you followed canon, you’d understand that Cuddy would never end her relationship with House based on a slip regarding Vicodin. It actually would have served as a great opportunity for drama to deal with the real challenges of being involved with an addict and dealing with it together. Cuddy would have never given up for that reason nor because she couldn’t handle things or him. In fact, history has shown that she would have risked everything to hang on to him, and she certainly would have fought harder to simply not fail. It was a cop-out and yet another attempt to have Cuddy assume the role of bad guy, which appeared to be a common move that failed to be embraced by the audience. Instead, she was always viewed as positive force for House by a large portion of the audience. She was viewed as his equal and a key element to his emotional healing (as boldly suggested during season six) I always felt badly that Cuddy seemed to be written as the scapegoat for House’s personal pain when clearly the possibility was there for so much more. And why was a drug-free House able to be there for Wilson in “Wilson” (S6) when he gave up part of his liver and could have died, but when Cuddy had a health crisis, he couldn’t face it without being stoned? As Cuddy pointed out in the episode “Bombshells,” House never let her alone and was involved in all aspects of her life. And, he’d been there every step of the way during her mother’s health crisis and been a tremendous support. Suddenly, he’s forgotten to be there? Forgotten he is capable of being there? The attempt may have been to show House’s feelings were much deeper and the loss of Cuddy would have been more devastating, but it really didn’t coincide with what we’d seen of this character for years. It’s never been that he couldn’t be there as much as he could not provide the “traditional” support while he was there. If one day you can explain all this, it would be truly helpful as I am struggling with what I felt was an error in character continuity.
Even Wilson was out of character. In “Bombshells,” when Foreman came to Wilson looking for House, Wilson didn’t care and shrugged it off. When Wilson knows House is going through personal issues, he was always known to look out for and worry about his friend. House’s fears regarding Cuddy’s illness were a pretty big issue for Wilson to ignore. Why was Wilson all of a sudden not concerned about how House was doing in relation to Cuddy? It didn’t make sense to me at all. Any more than it made sense for Foreman to suddenly be playing the role of Wilson, or Masters believing House shouldn’t be with Cuddy, but should be with the patient. All of the characters seemed to have broken from years of canon and solid character development in order to force a break-up. It didn’t feel natural at all. Even the writers and actors interviews reflected an idea that just didn’t come across on the screen.
The second half of season seven for me was a creative mess from all aspects. I know I’m not alone in this, because some average viewers with whom I spoke were convinced that it was all a hallucination of sorts. Several people commented to me how “off” things mid season seven were right up until the car crash heard around the world. Hopefully, by now you realize what a mistake that car crash was for the character and the narrative. House was never known to be violent towards any person in the course of the show. Bitter and jealous? Yes. Violent? No. What you did in that moment was extinguish that broken, humanistic quality embraced by many fans. You removed the precarious balance of the character. It was at this very point that House was no longer viewed by many as an anti-hero, but a psychotic monster, who after weeks of intentionally seeking to emotionally hurt his ex-lover, now resorted to violence. You say the violence was against her home, but that never made sense in the editing, story or the basic concept even after the attempt to explain at the start of season eight. You basically went against the very thing you were determined not to do: ensured House would be viewed as a total bastard, removing the qualities that made fans loyal to him. Unfortunately, this very act forced many viewers to change the channel. What’s even more unfortunate is that the episode was good, tying in the patient of the week to House’s life, but it was eclipsed by one poorly thought-out action, an action for which it seems you continue to feel no remorse. If you do, then you haven’t let fans know that verbally. Furthermore, what was allegedly meant to be a cathartic moment (which is never really achieved through violence) wasn’t followed up with any revelation and/or growth resulting from a true purging of emotion. The problem was that you went for the “shock” factor without thinking about the overall narrative and consequences, especially in a year where contracts were being negotiated. I mean, if Lisa Edelstein had returned, what were you going to do with Cuddy? Even Peter Blake admitted he didn’t know the answer to that question. I wouldn’t have cared if House pulled a Carrie Underwood and took his cane to Cuddy’s car, but crashing it into her house was over the top and unnecessary in my opinion.
Aside from the out of character car crash, you entered soap territory with Taub and his two babies. Of all the brilliantly started storylines, you chose yet another story that was not well received by fans. Sadly, this trend seemed to carry into the current season.
Watching this current season, I feel the show has lost complete focus in regards to things that were essential and important elements to the show’s overall success. I have yet to see an example of your testimony that the show would be going “back to basics.” Instead, I’ve seen things that leave me befuddled, mentally exhausted (for bad reasons) and irritated. Rather than having stolen moments, like seasons past, where House would be reflecting on his actions, you have Wilson wiping them away with a punch in the course of a forty-minute episode. Yet, Wilson was pissed at House for several episodes after House inadvertently killed Amber. I guess House nearly killing him with his car and ruining the friendship trio wasn’t important to Wilson. Lord, even Wilson talked to Stacy long after House’s breakup with her.
In season eight, I also have been sorely missing those moments with House and his patients. Interactions are being utilized through the new characters, who are as flat as my chest. There’s no personality inherent in them. Odette Annable is being used as many of the House women have been…as eye candy and nothing more. Foreman is the new dean and somehow has forgotten that he’s running a hospital. Instead I keep finding him constantly in the DDX room. I think he’s gotten more airtime in one season as Dean of Medicine than Cuddy ever did in seven years to be honest, and yet his presence in his new current role has done nothing to bring us closer to House, to provide any new insights into House.
Currently, I feel the depth and emotional quality the show brought forth initially is being lost in silliness and shock factors just for the sake of having House doing it. Don’t get me wrong. I like the comedic aspects of the show but only as a break from the truth of an episode. The jokes, comedy and games were a way to release the emotional tension of an episode, giving viewers a bit of a break. Now, they seem to be there because the writers, under your guidance, have forgotten how to write real drama. Has every episode this season been bad? No, but the good ones seemed to not carry over in the overall narrative so far to me. That factor alone is disappointing.
As an analytical viewer, I have been able to see the tiny thread of fractional change that is being attempted, but it is falling short of the mark. The fact that viewers and critics are so rarely even noticing much less talking about this thread is a testament to the depth of subtlety and the loss of a key element. What would have been powerful in season six and seven now is almost of negligible interest in the debris that’s left of the House character. This fractional change is too little too late, and when intermixed with obvious attempts to “surprise” the audience with revelations that counteract what they think they know of House and his past, it fails to work as a denouement to this narrative.
Additionally, I feel cheated because there seems to be no real journey to look forward to anymore. You’ve said time and again that House won’t change and will never be happy. Therefore, I take your reiteration of this idea to mean that House will forever be miserable and any suggestion of growth and promise were just smoke and mirrors. This was never a journey to follow, never a sojourn into the soul of an interesting character with reason to root for the man on this pilgrimage. It would seem it’s always been a trial, with House the test subject placed in a series of random situations that result in hypothesis and theories. Each episode was just an episodic glimpse into House’s life and consistent barrage of failures that accompanied it. If that’s the case, then I feel I’ve wasted eight years of my life on a mere illusion and complete misdirection.
In a world where there is so much negativity and loss of hope, your idea of no hope for the hopeless is rather depressing. People watch television to be entertained and escape the trials of their everyday lives. Getting lost in fiction is usually a welcomed break. The entertainment industry has always capitalized on that escape mentality as early as WWII. The escape into film was more than a relief and a healing balm, but a challenge to traditional thought to move people into action, and yes even change. In the case of House, people were drawn to him as an emblem of hope for themselves. You see, people are looking not only for characters to which they can relate, but ones for which they can be motivated by their success in life. Real life is difficult enough. But when that stress transfers to one’s life of fiction, it proves to be a bit disconcerting.
If your idea in the end is to go against the normal conventions of television and have House be a personal failure, never to have at least one aspect of his life be a happy one, then so be it. You may be satisfied that you created that ideal, but I don’t know how many more will embrace it that easily. Creativity is a tricky thing and in it you must find compromise. Create what you wish to create in whatever way, but don’t forget your audience. A selfish, stubborn nature enveloped in a cloud of negativity will not allow you to go very far. Accept mistakes, acknowledge them and learn from them. Mistakes are a part of life, but to stubbornly dismiss them takes away from the creative process and casts one in an unfavorable light.
As the creator of House, I’ve seen you do some brilliant things and I’ve seen you do some things that go beyond incomprehensible. There have also been so many missed opportunities to capitalize on some of the story ideas you brought to the viewing public. Perhaps, if you took your time with exploring ideas they would have had a more natural progression and you may have gotten more years out of the show, which would have been great. Up until this point though, what’s done is done. But there are still some things for which you still have a little bit of a window of time left for redemption.
In these final hours, I urge you to take a moment of reflection. Remember the things that are important in regards to the show and the roots that made it a success. It’s unfortunate that you had no room to fit Cuddy into the series finale, because it’s still tough for fans to accept that the last visions of Cuddy were of a car going through her dining room. I do hope that the decision was just due to creative issues and not a grudge. Today could be any one of our last days on earth and any kind of anger or dismissiveness is not the last feeling anyone wants to experience. (Amber was right in “Wilson’s Heart.) I also encourage you to make a bold move in returning the humanity to House. The acts that destroyed the balance in this character were not subtle; the restoration shouldn’t be either.
Although I have been utterly disappointed with the show as of late, I still wish you the best of luck in the final stretch of this marathon. I cannot deny that Dr. Gregory House was a unique character to behold and that those who added the fine furnishings to this “house” were eclectic and added a certain kind of warmth to this struggling individual. I think there is truth that things, which are of a classic nature, seem to outlast the newly developed. Flashy styles last for only so long before they are replaced by simplicity and elegance. And that which is lost can be found again.
You’re right with the theme of “You Can’t Always Get What you Want.” Viewers are just hoping that in the end we at least get what we need…..whatever that may be.
Sincerely yours,
Drdaignostic ( A fan of the cerebral, classic House)
